ECW Returns full time

[Guest Dan]

WWE IS BRINGING BACK ECW AS A FULL TIME ENTITY, MAKING PLANS TO SIGN TALENT FROM THE GLORY YEARS FOR NEW VENTURE

by Dave Scherer @ 2:56:00 PM on 4/23/2006

 

 

WWE has made the decision to bring back Extreme Championship Wrestling as a full time entity and has begun talking with former ECW talent about returning to work for the new version of the legendary promotion. As of right now, WWE is targeting a September return for the promotion. No decision has been made as to exactly how the company will be brought back yet. It's possible that it will take over the present OVW territory, that it will be a promotion that gets matches on the Raw and/or Smackdown promotions or possibly in some other manner. Sources have told us that Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer will be booking ECW when it starts up.

 

WWE has already contacted a number of ECW wrestlers and contracts will be sent out to them this week. The talents are being offered three year deals which consist of a series of one year contracts, with rollover clauses. A number of wrestlers have been contacts so far. We can confirm that WWE has talked with The Sandman, Francine and Balls Mahoney and will be sending contracts out to them this week.

 

We will have more information on this story later today or tomorrow.

 

Credit PWInsider.com

[Guest Kanenite]

OH MY GOD!!! That's awesome news, I really hope that it plays out well. I really hope that we get to see the matches though and it gets aired on tv or that will really suck.

[Guest Danny Styles]

It could happen, though i doubt it would

 

I think WWE would do it though because they could than try and lure people like Raven, Rhino, Dudleyz and Sabu from TNA to work for the ECW

[Guest Dave7g]

Thank God for that, hopefully they will give it the Smackdown timeslot, and just unify Raw and Smackdown as they have been getting boring lately.

 

Gret news though.

[Guest Twig]

Hmm. This is stange news. It may look, feel, and be booked like ECW, but if it's owned by Vince... I may just feel dirty watching it... in a bad way. I'm riddled with inner conflict.

[Guest porridge]

Yes this is great news!! :tban

 

As Dave said, unite Raw and Smackdown, give ECW the Friday night slot and the world will be happy again!!

[Guest Dan]

It should be interesting to see what happens with ECW getting TV time, maybe they'll get some coverage on the new CW Network comes in when UPN ends, I believe in September. I know Smackdown has supposedly been given thier slot, but maybe a ECW TV show will as well.

[Guest Reality Checked]

that is AWSOME news! suposing its true of course. there has been many ecw rumours that its coming back full time, but ive never seen news of it with this much information, so we will see hey. bieng someone who never saw ecw when it was on tv, but having seen the dvds, ill love to see a tv timeslot of it. wait and hope hey :D

[Guest Nemesis Enforcer]

Super news, I was a massive fan of old ECW and if WWE come good then Hayman and Dreamer will book and have controle over it, if Vince starts interfering and making it more WWE'esk then it will not work, leave it to the old guys to run and it will have a massive fan base again!

[Guest Nemesis Enforcer]

According to the WrestlingObserver, WWE will not be adding a third day of television tapings, so if there is a separate TV show slated for the revived ECW promotion, the matches will be taped at the RAW or SmackDown! events.

 

The promotion, which will likely include old ECW names and current WWE developmental wrestlers, will, however, likely run independent house shows

Source Headlineplanet.com

[Guest Clarkey]

In a story reported on earlier today by Pro Wrestling Insider, WWE is indeed bringing back the ECW brand name for merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows.

 

The decision appears to have been finalized in the past week as several former stars were offered three-year contracts.

 

Paul Heyman will be in charge of the brand. It is believed this will be a mix of both former ECW wrestlers and new WWE developmental wrestlers.

 

It is expected this will lead to some significant changes in the WWE television product as well. The company is not looking to add a third day of television taping. It would likely be handled similar to the Superastros deal in the late 90s, with weekly matches taped before either the Raw or Smackdown tapings.

 

Meltzer's take.

[Guest Slim Jim]

Meltzer has confirmed it..

 

In a story reported on earlier today by Pro Wrestling Insider, WWE is indeed bringing back the ECW brand name for merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows.

 

The decision appears to have been finalized in the past week as several former stars were offered three-year contracts.

 

Paul Heyman will be in charge of the brand. It is believed this will be a mix of both former ECW wrestlers and new WWE developmental wrestlers.

 

It is expected this will lead to some significant changes in the WWE television product as well. The company is not looking to add a third day of television taping. It would likely be handled similar to the Superastros deal in the late 90s, with weekly matches taped before either the Raw or Smackdown tapings.

 

Edit - Beat to it.

[Guest the HiTman]

I can't see how this is going to happen at all. First thing that comes to mind is that Vince doesn't allow almost all dangerous moves to be carried out, so how will ECW work?

[Dead Crow 370]

Wow, and to think, NEXT WEEK myself and Colin will be interviewing CW ANDERSON of ECW fame LIVE on VOICE OF WRESTLING UK.

 

Just saying...

[Guest Drake]

*cough*cheap plug*cough* :D

[Guest cenarules]

I never really watched ECW when it was around before, but I would definitely give it a shot if this is true. If it isn't, no big deal. I've already got TNA anyway.

[Guest Jack]

I think it willbe interesting to see what happens with the WWE side of things. If RAW and SmackDown! were united once again, I for one, would be really pleased at that. I'm not sure how well just 2 hours would work though, but I'm sure it would be great. The amount of potential main event talent is huge, and if done well, it would work out a hell of a lot better than 2 seperate rosters.

 

As for ECW, I guess we'll see a straight edge CM Punk headlining, which is good news for me. Hopefully Heyman puts forward guys like Chris Benoit, Psicosis, Super Crazy, Van Dam, Joey Styles to be reassigned to ECW, and new guys like Ricky Reyes (Who is everything Taz was, and more - Potentially a serious asset), Rocky Romero, Bryan Danielson, Necro Butcher, Matt Morgan (He isn't exactly the typical ECW worker, but he is pretty good, and would work in a Big Sal type role), and so on.

 

There is a lot of potential for this to work. Hopefully the split itself is booked more like ROH vs CZW than WWF vs ECW/ECW, just to get it off to the right start.

[Fidel Cashflow 130]

The great thing about this is that OVW has already been turned into a tweaked version of ECW, so when we get the full fledged thing with the same guys it will not be out of order.

 

Will RVD-CM Punk become new classics much to the extent RVD-Lynn is.

 

What will really make this good, is that it will be Paul Heyman doing what he pleases and worrying about money constraints.

 

Now people like Dudleys, Sabu, and Rhyno are put in a tough spot as they all are in comfortable spots in TNA, but will have to fight the urge to return to their roots.

 

What about Lance Storm, Corino, Justin Credible, Francine. Will Simon Dean return to his Nova roots? Will Roadkill and Danny Doring re-emerge from non-existence? What happens to the Cruisers. Most of them are of ECW fame, does Smackdown just drop them all together or keep them away from ECW where they belong?

 

How will we see ECW? Will networks now adays be more adverse or accepting of the violence? And what happens if the ECW ratings soar, will Vince make himself present? Will it be only Paul or will he be on a leash?

 

Damn, so many questions, but we won’t find out everything until the lights are on and the ECW chants are off the charts.

[Guest Down In Albion]

Wow, big news.

 

But, to be honest, from the sounds of things it's going to be a fairly diluted version of ECW. I mean taping the ECW shows before RAW and Smackdown! go on the air? :?

 

This is ECW, not Sunday Night HeAT.

 

I wasn't a huge fan of ECW back in the day when they were in business but i always respected the company and i just think this could lead to a tarnishing of the memory, so to speak. Much the same as in the way i think ECW One Night Stand 2, or whatever it will be called, will do.

 

I hope i'm wrong.

[Guest The Great Ahmar]

That is great news but i don't think Smackdown or Raw will merge because it was separated to make the roster smaller and WWE won't allow people like Benoit, RVD and other ECW people to go to ECW as Raw/Smackdown is something they consider bigger than ECW!

[Guest Sav]

Thank God for that' date=' hopefully they will give it the Smackdown timeslot, and just unify Raw and Smackdown as they have been getting boring lately.[/quote']

What a rubbish idea.

 

I can't get excited over this to be honest. I just don't see ECW working as a full time promotion anymore, especially being WWE owned. Paul Heyman booking it gives me some hope though.

[Guest MojoPogo]

Wow' date=' and to think, [b']NEXT WEEK[/b] myself and Colin will be interviewing CW ANDERSON of ECW fame LIVE on VOICE OF WRESTLING UK.

 

Just saying...

 

You forgot to say *Foley style* HERE.....ON TALK..WRESTLING..LIVE! *cue cheap crowd pop!*:D

 

Absolutely awesome news! Dont know how its going to work, but im more than willing to give it a chance! And with Heyman booking and major money behind it (hopefully)......maybe, just maybe, it could the ECW it could and should have been originally. Completely marking out? Yep!

[Guest paul_kimber]

WWE will lose some stars like RVD Benoit & Mysterio just o name a few so I dont know how wil they cope. They cant really be on both ECW & WWE espcially Rey if he is still the champ.

 

Whats betting that WWE will announce this at ECW ONS 2

[Guest Slim Jim]

I'm sure people like Rey and Benoit will stay with the "E".

 

They'd have to make sure it was an updated version and they don't keep it in the past. With Heyman, WWE will be able to use it to build the stars of the future, but with the added bonus of having an established, popular brand behind it.

[Guest HH-Evolution]

they won't 'LOSE' anyone - with ECW being a WWE 'Subdivision' of sorts, all the contracts would probably state somewhere that it's still part of the WWE foodchain, and thus they're still part of the E, and not REALLY a seperate entity. :P

 

Still, Good news...really not surprised, though - this WAS briefly speculated on when ECW ONS 1 was taking place last year, afterall.